Juventus slipped to their third defeat of the season with a thoroughly lacklustre display against Napoli at the San Paulo.
The Bianconeri were coming off a disappointing midweek draw against Frosinone and the stakes were high with both Juve and Napoli in desperate need of points. Both sides started brightly but it was Napoli who took the lead after a well worked move between Higuain and Insigne paid off with the young Italian striker slotting the ball past Gigi Buffon.
Napoli continued to dominate the second-half and a poor pass from Hernanes gifted the ball to Higuain who fired an angled shot past Buffon to double the lead. Juve got one back immediately when Paulo Dybala lofted a cross into the box for Mario Lemina to head home but the game was out of reach.
Do you agree with our ratings ? Have your say below.
Gigi Buffon
Had very little to do but made some terrific saves when he was called upon. Could do very little about Napoli’s two goals.
6.0 / 10
Simone Padoin
Solid in defence but little more. A better right-back than midfielder by all accounts, but he showed little going forward.
5.5 / 10
Giorgio Chiellini
Juve’s best defender on the night, put himself about, made some great intercceptions and tried to keep Higuain at bay.
6.5 / 10
Leonardo Bonucci
Was thoroughly outmatched by the duo of Higuain and Insigne. Couldn’t do much about the second goal other than try and track back.
6.0 / 10
Patrice Evra
Looked outmatched at times, made some rash tackles and ended up getting booked. Despite that, he did a good job to keep Callejon quiet but offered little by way of an attacking threat.
6.0 / 10
Mario Lemina
Exceptional yet again, kept the side ticking over with simple passes. Tackled and defended well and scored the only Juve goal of the night. Great work yet again.
7.5 / 10
Hernanes
An abject display in midfield – Some strong tackles but very little by way of creativity. His misplaced pass gave Napoli their second goal.
5.0 / 10
Paul Pogba
A player who seems to be struggling under the weight of the shirt number and the responsibility of carrying the midfield on his own. Trys too often to do too much when the simple things might be best.
5.5 / 10
Roberto Pereyra
Started brightly when playing behind the strikers but gradually faded as the game went on.
6.0 / 10
Paulo Dybala
Great workrate but the end product was lacking. Didn’t seem to have much of a rapport with Zaza but still managed to pick out the cross for Juve’s goal.
6.0 / 10
Simone Zaza
Many will disagree, but his workrate was flawless. Tried to bully the Napoli defences and played off the shoulder of the last man. Could and should have created one goal for Juve. Might work better with other players around him.
6.0 / 10
Substitutes
Juan Cuadrado
Came on in the second half but it was too late for him to make a real impact on the game
N/A
Alvaro Morata
Came on for Dybala but failed to create anything of note.
Contrary to most people, I don’t decry any of our players effort or performance aside from Hernanes’s and Allegri’s choice to field him. It was always going to be difficult to win at San Paolo, especially when you are in a transition year, with luck going against you pretty much every time. This is not the monumental loss people are making it out to be. There is no shame in losing to Roma at the Olimpico or Napoli at San Paolo.
The loss to Udinese and ties against Chievo and Frosinone are much more upsetting, but we were particularly unlucky in those games. And the thing about luck is that it turns around sooner or later.
So you are saying that after 6 games and only 5 points, we are just unlucky. Thats all it is…? And sooner or later luck turns and then we will start winning again just like last season.
I would attribute the losses to Udinese and Frosinone to pure bad luck. The tie against Chievo and losses to Roma and Napoli were fair results. So, Juve probably belong in 9th/10th position with 10 points based on their performance if you factor out those freakishly unlucky games.
We won’t start winning like last season in a much stronger Serie A, with a very young and new squad in a transition year. My hope is that the team slowly matures and wins points quietly without all this scudetto and fire-Allegri talk. When everyone presents each game as a must-win, do-or-die scenario, it puts unnecessary pressure on the team and leads to detrimental results.
Under Conte the team kinda thrived under the high pressure, us against the world style though
The Frosinone goal should have been EASILY avoided. They haven’t been in our box for like the entire match and it was us attacking controlling everything the whole time. But for the last minute we let them come for one time, they got a cornor and scored. We should have just kept the ball in our team which couldn’t have been hard.
We need more than just better luck to start winning again. The only win so far against Genoa was hardly a good game either. Hernanes was only bad against Napoli. The players in general arent playing as they should. Allegri also making errors, as with Hernanes and Padoin as deep lying playmakers. We dont have that player anymore, he should stop trying to create one.